The question was: Should we store Georgie’s stem cells when he is born or shouldn’t we? The idea and hope is that you’ll never have to make use of them, but should something happen, we’d have such peace of mind knowing that his stem cells could save his life.
It came down to simply having no regrets and we decided to store his stem cells for 20 years.
Motherhood, Pregnancy Cryo-Save Stem Cell Storage October 12, 2017.
Today, the 12th October, is International Stem Cell Awareness Day. To be perfectly honest with you, stem cells were not something I even thought about until I found out I was pregnant. When you’re a prospective parent, there is so much information coming at you about all sorts of things that it can be completely overwhelming. One of the things we thought about was umbilical cord stem cell saving.
Stem cells should be called master cells as they can replicate, regenerate and differentiate themselves into any one of 200 different specialised cells in the body, and are used to treat over 80 potentially life-threatening blood related diseases including leukaemia, lymphoma and bone marrow failures.
We chose Cryo-Save South Africa as it is part of the Cryo-Save Group, Europe’s largest private cord blood bank. Through its six international laboratories in Geneva, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and UAE. Cryo-Save globally stores more than 330 000 samples and is represented in over 30 countries on three continents.
This is the kit that gets delivered to your door and you take this with you to the hospital.